Director: Reza Zehtabchian
Cast: Mahdi Zaminpardaz, Amir Aghaee, Linda Kiani
Film Oxidan is an Iranian drama-thriller directed by Reza Zehtabchian, following a young Basij member whose world fractures after a violent street attack on his pregnant wife. The film probes how a man shaped by ideology and grief makes the decision to act when institutions fail him.
What is Film Oxidan about?
Amir has grown up within a framework of duty and sacrifice — his father gave his life in the Iran-Iraq war, and Amir himself serves as a committed Basij volunteer. His faith in order and structure is absolute, until one afternoon his pregnant wife is brutally assaulted by a stranger on a public street. She loses the baby. The state apparatus Amir has trusted all his life offers no satisfying answer. Caught between loyalty to his community's rules and the raw wound of personal loss, Amir begins to move toward a decision that will test everything he believes. The film withholds easy judgment, letting the tension build through quiet, observational scenes before arriving at its stark confrontation.
Cast & crew
Director Reza Zehtabchian guides a contained, performance-driven piece. Mahdi Zaminpardaz carries the film's emotional weight as Amir, projecting restrained anguish. Amir Aghaee brings precise physical presence to the film, while Linda Kiani lends the wife a dignity that sharpens the stakes of the violence done to her.
Context & significance
Iranian social thrillers of this register occupy a specific space — they use genre mechanics (mounting dread, a protagonist pushed to the edge) to examine ideological contradictions that are difficult to address directly. For diaspora viewers, Film Oxidan resonates on multiple levels: the portrait of a man who has invested everything in a system, only to find it inadequate at the moment he needs it most, echoes a broader generational story familiar to Iranians who came of age in the post-revolution decades. The film is a product of a tradition of Iranian socially conscious drama that refuses melodrama in favor of moral ambiguity.
Where & how to watch
Film Oxidan is available on K-Time with original Persian audio and Persian dubbing. Stream it on your browser, TV, or phone — no extra download needed, no VPN, no geo-blocking. Start a membership and cancel anytime.